Pages

Search This Blog

Saturday, January 30, 2016

My eldest daughter is Frozen obsessed. She reenacts scenes with her daddy, dolls, and performs solo as well. She sings "Let it Go" at the top of her lungs and has worn her Elsa dress to rags. Here's proof:

Many days, I beg her to sing anything else, just please not "Let it Go!" After a much needed heart evaluation I realized that there is so much in "Frozen" that I can relate to God's attributes and the message of the gospel. And so began this journey of using this movie to help my daughter see GOD!As a result of this light bulb moment, which I thank the Holy Spirit for enlightening me to, I am actually excited about Frozen! (Weird, I know.)

1. Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen
heart.

Only Jesus' act of true love thaws our frozen
hearts. He died on the cross for our sins, endured the wrath of God for our sin, died, was buried and rose again! This act of true love heals
our dirty, rotten hearts! That is the
gospel message. This act is called the power of God and everyone who
believes in the gospel will live with Jesus in heaven! Considering our hearts,
this is FANTASTIC news! Our hearts are frozen solid according to Jesus in
Matthew 15:19, "out of the heart come evil
thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft false witness, slander..."
Just when you think it couldn't get worse our hearts are described in Jeremiah
17:9 as diseased, "the heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"
Thank goodness for Jesus' act of true love.

2. God has icy powers!

What an incredible way to show the almighty, sovereign
power of God! Read Job 37:10 where Elihu is pointing Job and his 3 friends back
to God and his wondrous works, "By the breath
of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick
cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter is lightning. They turn around and
around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of
the habitable world. Whether for correction or for his land or of love, he
causes it to happen." Show her how Elsa freezes the waters when she
steps on the lake, how she uses her hands to turn the snow around and around
and then talk about how Elsa is just pretend, BUT God, Oh God, He does those
things FOR REAL!

3. Let it Go!

This one statement reminds me of an amazing hymn, What
a Friend We Have in Jesus by Joseph M. Scriven,

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to
carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what
needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in
prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be
discouraged—

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful,

Who
will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness;

Take it to the
Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our
refuge—

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?

Take
it to the Lord in prayer!

In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,

Thou
wilt find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised

Thou wilt all our burdens bear;

May we ever, Lord, be bringing

All to Thee
in earnest prayer.

Soon in glory bright, unclouded, There will be no need
for prayer—

Rapture, praise, and endless worship

Will be our sweet portion
there.

Oh, what needless pain we bear, oh, what peace we
often forfeit, simply because we do not "let it go" and carry
everything to God in prayer. He has promised to bear our burdens, troubles,
discouragement, and loads. He hasn't promised to take it away, but He has
promised to be our comfort, our solace, our refuge... we simply need to
"let it go" and give it to Him. Pray. Let it go. Trust in His sovereign
plan!

4. The heart is not so easily changed, but the
head can be persuaded.

This statement is true beyond belief. The creed of
the world, Just Follow Your Heart, is the go-to advice for most. The
belief that our hearts are a moral compass that effectively guide our actions
and words is absolutely ludicrous. The Bible says so. Here's why: Our
hearts (emotions) are unstable, insecure, constantly changing with the ebb and
flow of life's ups and downs, while being incredibly selfish - seeking our
own glory and desires above all else. Most importantly the Bible quotes Jesus
in Matthew 15:19 describe our hearts as black, "out
of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft
false witness, slander..." Just when you think it couldn't get
worse our hearts are described in Jeremiah 17:9 as diseased, "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
sick; who can understand it?" As a result, we cannot follow
our heart (as the world advises). Instead, we must educate our minds of the
things of God, calming our heart and trusting in God's almighty hand. Two
verses come to mind that I want to spend a bit of time talking about just to
reinforce the importance of "persuading your head" so our heart
follows suit and what that looks like according to Scripture. Colossians 3:2 is
a big one, "Set your minds on things that are
above, not on things that are on earth." We have to go back to the
purpose of what Paul and Timothy explained to the saints and faithful
brothers at Colossae (Colossians 1:2) in order to completely understand how
this applies: Paul and Timothy wanted these individuals to be centered on
Jesus, to be focused on Him and His preeminence, because Paul wanted the church
to be rooted in Christ and not deceived by false teaching. Or as 1:2 states,
"... deluded with plausible arguments." Second is Romans 12:3, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Renew your mind so you know the will of God. How do you know the will of God? He revealed it in Scripture! Read the Bible! Keep
your mind focused on the truth so your heart is not lead astray!

5. The trolls gave the king and queen the
clue to controlling Elsa's magic: fear.

Fear destroyed this families life. Although it's a
fictional story, we can relate to that in one amazing way: fear will destroy
our lives. Because of our frozen hearts (see #1 and 4) we deserve eternal destruction, BUT we have hope because
of Jesus. Our faith in His death, burial and resurrection is the clue to
unlocking fear! Romans 10:9 proves it, "...
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Look how
confident that verse can make you just by looking at the word WILL. It's not a
maybe or an, "if only". Cast away your fear by rereading that verse,
if you believe that Jesus is God, that he died on the cross and rose again, you
WILL be saved. Will. That act of love casts out fear. When that popped into my
brain I absolutely could not stop thinking about that one phrase, "perfect
love casts out fear!" BUT I also couldn't remember where to find it. So I
did what all Bible scholars do when their brain stops working, I Googled it.
When I Googled it I found a sermon by one of my favorite pastors (John Piper)
called, "Perfect Love Casts Out Fear!" Voila! 1
John 4:18, "There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casts out fear." There's a lot to that one statement
when you read the entire book of 1 John, but think about the truth John is
proclaiming: we can confidently approach God face to face because of the
gospel! The work Jesus accomplished through His death on the
cross, His burial and defeating death by rising again is a selfless love that
allows sinners to live fearlessly, and confidently, for the day of judgement.
Because of our faith in Jesus Christ we do not fear His return or our death!
How beautiful then is Jesus' perfect love? How incredible is it that we can
rest in HIS saving grace? How amazing is it to live fearlessly? All because
Christ's one act of true love casts out fear. Hallelujah!

Thank you Frozen for giving me these amazing
opportunities to show the truth in God's Word to my Elsa obsessed
daughter!

Monday, January 4, 2016

I debated for a LONG time between these two titles that received the most votes on a Facebook poll:

I'm Under Her SpELE

An Ele-phant Never Forgets

And decided on the later for two reasons: 1. She was an Ele-phant for Halloween. It just seems fitting that the name of her blog posts, her first costume, and one of her mommy's favorite animals all coincide. 2. I never want to forget my sweet baby - her cuddles, smiles, laughs - I treasure each moment with her and I never want to forget them. Lord, give me the memory of an elephant.

Now that you know my reason for picking what I picked, here's a bit about our Ele...

Her first month...
... She began smiling when she was a mere 4 weeks old. I wish I wrote down the date, but I know it was on a Wednesday (weird, I know)...
... She is a cuddler. Bean never was and would stiffen up and cry if I held her, so this is new to me and I LOVE every cuddle I get...
... from the beginning of time this little girl could sleep through anything (including Abi and Brielle screaming in a game of chase)...
... she's a little heat box. Like her daddy, she was sweating in the midst of a snowstorm. Sweating and screaming about it.

Her second month...
... The little girl has spoiled me, sleeping through the night when she was just weeks old...
... We began to notice that when she's mad there's not a lot of tears, there's just a lot of screaming...
... She's a daddy's girl. If she's upset, she responds to him better than me; especially when she's tired she will fall asleep almost instantly in his arms, but scream in mine...
... during this time of her life she slept best in her car seat during the day. It didn't matter where we went, the days we traveled, she slept for hours...... She is so observant! She loves to sit on my lab watching little kids play, or listen to conversations, or simply look around...

Her third month...
... She was fitting into the swimsuit Bean fit into when she was 6 months old (Ele is much chunkier)...
... She's been rolling over since the 4th of July. Her first giggle was on that same date...
... She is a people person. She prefers faces over toys, but she does have a little lamb that she loves...
... To watch Bean and Ele finally interacting is pretty incredible. One of my favorite memories is the first time these two burst into hysterical giggles.

Her fourth month...
... She belly laughs every time I dress her or wipe her hands and face...
... She's a thumb sucker and puts herself to sleep on her side, sucking away...
... tried cereal and hated it... so we'll keep trying...

Her fifth month...
... was sitting up on her own...
... still hates cereal...
... she began scooting around! She's all over the place...
... when she's angry she not only screams, but she shakes and bounces herself up and down.

Her sixth month...
... spits a lot and she loves giving raspberries...
... loves textures (carpet, embroidered shirts, lace, zippers, etc.)...
... talks with her tongue between her lips (it's a hilariously adorable toothless, chubby cheek baby thing that makes my mommy heart all mushy)...
... at her checkup she's stayed in that 50th percentile for height, weight and head circumference (she's well rounded). We predict she's going to be bigger than her older sister...
... hates all solids she's tried (sweet potato, avocado, apple, banana) and still prefers not to eat rice cereal. She's a spoiled breast fed baby, that's for sure...
... began to pull herself up to standing already!
... began to crawl with speeeeed and when she's on all fours she works on standing up...
... does this squishing up her nose, breathing thing that has me in hysterics...
... recognizes that I'm "momma" and her daddy's "dadada"

Her seventh month...
... she finally began to enjoy solid food! She LOVES carrots and the soft part of popcorn. In fact, it was popcorn that got her interested in eating in the first place. I could not get it to her mouth fast enough. Now she enjoys about anything I put in her mouth! She went from throwing up everything to devouring everything.
... her first tooth popped through...
... she climbs up stairs and walks along the edges of furniture...
... she's repeating sounds that she hears.

Her eighth month...
... she has an obsession with the rocking chair, which keeps coming back and biting her.
... When we growl at her she growls back.
... Screeches when she's excited.
... thinks it's hilarious to terrorize the dogs. Quigley is such a good sport about it, just licking her to death. Marley, however, is a grumpy old man.
... she gives slobbery kisses...

Follow by Email

Followers

Reading Goal

"It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."— C.S. Lewis